FRUITS AND LABOURS

The sloes are ready in the hedgerow - ideally you should wait for a frost, but I can’t say I’ve noticed a difference, so I tend to collect them around now. Watchout, though, as the Blackthorn bushes are very spiky.

The blackberries have been plumper, the apples more numerous (but smaller, as I should have thinned them out...) and I now feel really guilty about not harvesting all those plums, but am trying to make up for it with the other hedgerow fruits - at least you don’t have to stone the sloes.  Some people prick each one before the gin dunk, but they seem fine after a stint in the freezer - the freeze/thaw action cracks the skins just as well.  So unless you like repetitive manual labour (and it can be soothing), take the short route to the sloe gin.